All Forum Posts by: Shane Welch

Hi Shane, if you haven't already done so, I would suggest scheduling a meeting with your CPA. I did this before we bought our first property, and he provided me with the Excel spreadsheet to use. Because we did this in advance, I already had the ss in the format that he likes, since he's the one that provided it to us, and I just update it monthly.

If you don't have a CPA yet, now is a good time to get one. We used to do our own taxes, but knowing we'd be investing, I found someone in advance. I ask him questions every so often so that I can be sure to have everything in order for next tax season. I'm sure any accountant would be happy to meet with you for the same purpose if it means that you won't be the guy showing up with nothing but a stack of wrinkled receipts :)

As for the receipts, I have a binder that I tape all the receipts onto standard size paper (if the receipt isn't already standard size). I don't know if that's the most efficient method, but to me, it's quicker than scanning and uploading, etc. I'm interested to hear how others manage this as well. Thanks for posting the question, and good luck on your journey!

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Cory Smith:

I highly recommend you find and pay a trust attorney for an hour or two of their time. If you end up taking advice of someone that doesn’t know what they are taking about here then you have the potential to really screw things up and cost you a small fortune in the process. One quote I’ve found to be invaluable is “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.”

I plan to talk to a RE Lawyer sometime next month, just trying to get some ideas on there on what I can look into. Thank you though, I will be very picky with what I choose to believe and do.

0 Votes

Hey Steve,

I am pretty handy with excel and making financial documents, I was not quite sure if that was adequate for a Tax Accountant, I also would be scanning all receipts into "monthly/Yearly" folders. Also, should I separate every Property in a different excel sheet? or as far as every UNIT on a different excel sheet?

Originally posted by @Steve Bogue:

Hi Shane,

I can speak from experience as I am a Tax Accountant that deals with a lot of Real Estate Clients. Each client is different and so is each accountant's preferences.

Assuming you don't do bookkeeping in a program such as Quickbooks or Xero and only keep receipts to keep track of expenses I would highly recommend preparing an excel of all expenses.

It could really save your accountant a lot of time which means a lower bill for your tax work. Of course the accountant should double check your numbers, but will save them a lot of time from doing tedious work.

Not sure if you are familiar with Dropbox or Google Doc's. Would recommend looking into using a cloud based storage folder simply because you can access these documents from any location, won't loose them if your computer goes down & if your CPA is tech savy you could invite them to the folder where they could access the files in that folder.

There's a lot of cloud based solutions to keep organized and minimize work.

If you have any questions, I'd be glad to help.

0 Votes

Originally posted by @Aaron K.:

A trust will not protect you from lawsuits, it depends on what you are trying to do as to what will be the best strategy

My plan for the next 3-4 years is to buy a duplex-quadplex every year (house hacking). I just got my first, but I would like to set things up now to protect myself and properties for any situation. Any suggestions?

0 Votes

I would like to set up and Irrevocable Living Trust to hold my properties and use an LLC to run the business, thus keeping my assets protected. Is this realistic or even how it can be used?

Is just using 1 LLC enough?

I want to protect my current and future rental properties as well as other assets from suits or other life happenings, what is the most affective way you use or have found.

Thank you.

1 Vote

Hello, I just purchased my first duplex last month. What is your practices for preparing for tax season?

Should I scan all receipts, keep in a folder on my desktop? or keep a binder of all receipts?
Is excel good a good thing to use to keep track on Income/Expenses, helpful to a tax advisor or accountant?

What have you found to be a simple/stress free way of keeping your business organized financially?

Thank you for your time.

1 Vote

When we signed the contract for our duplex, the plan was for my wife to get her license before we closed, so the buying agent was marked blank and note was added in the contract about her getting her license.

We no longer believe that she will get it in time for closing, what are our options?

There is $6,000 in closing costs and half of which was to go to the buying agency. Am I able to get the sale price lowered in that amount? Where does the commission that would have been made go?

0 Votes

It's a sellers market so the "deals" available are minimal and you may have to search 100-200 homes offering 80% of asking price on all the ones that (fit the plan) to just find one property.

My area I have to look at duplex's if i want to make any sort of net income. If you have any interest in house hacking you should highly consider that.

4 Votes

Charlotte, North Carolina

Hey, I am using my VA loan to get my first Duplex with $0 down. I will be closing in a couple weeks everything has gone very smoothly. Even with $0 down you'll need some cash on hand for repairs and upgrades. Im expecting to pay $5,000 out of pocket and may finance another $10,000 for some major jobs with contractors.

0 Votes

Granite or Formica Laminate?

This is a 180k 1975 Brick Style Duplex in Virginia.
The maximum I plan to rent out (after renovations) is $950 each side.

I would like to get Formica Laminate in granite style. Which would cost me under $500 for both units. But my friend recommends just getting granite.

- Will granite have any affect on what I can price the rent at and would it even be worth the extra $2,000-3,000?
- Will granite raise the value of the home enough to pay-for-itself in equity?

1 Vote

All Forum Posts by: Shane Welch

Shane Welch has started 26 posts and replied 60 times.

Post: How do you prepare for Tax Season?

Post: Should I use an Irrevocable Trust for my propterties?

Post: How do you prepare for Tax Season?

Post: Should I use an Irrevocable Trust for my propterties?

Post: Should I use an Irrevocable Trust for my propterties?

Post: How do you prepare for Tax Season?

Post: Self Representing Buyer, what about the commission?

Post: The math just isn't working :(

Post: How do I invest in multi family properties with no money down?

Post: Granite Vs Laminate Countertops